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Samsung's Galaxy S7 is expected to be announced during Q1 2016, and the flagship smartphone will be under a huge amount of pressure from the South Korean company to perform. Not only does it have to convince the markets that a Samsung flagship is a worthy choice as the 'top' Android phone, it also has to revive the flagging fortunes of Samsung's mobile department. It's the latter where the handset simply has to deliver, and Samsung's potential early release of the handset is a sound strategic move.

The last few months has seen a lot of speculation over the launch of the Galaxy S7. Traditionally the Galaxy S handsets have been announced just before the annual Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, before going on sale in April (following a build-up in the press during March). Mobile World Congress this year is February 22nd to 25th, so the natural window for the announcement would start on Friday February 19th.

Samsung Galaxy S6 vs Galaxy S6 Edge (image: Ewan Spence)

The problem here is that the impact of the Galaxy S7 will not be seen unit the Q2 2016 earnings, which is more than six months away. Until then the story would remain focussed on the Galaxy S6 family, which has not had an easy life. Production issues on the S6 Edge depressed availability on the more technically advanced handsets and consumers did not take to the vanilla S6 as strongly as Samsung had predicted. The South Korean company has implemented a number of price cuts and special offers in continued attempts to move the excess stock. Put simply, the S6 is not selling in the quantities that Samsung hoped it would

Earlier this year Samsung brought forward the announcement and release of the Galaxy Note 5. Historically the new phablet was announced at Berlin's IFA event in mid-September with a release in late September/early October. For 2015, the Note 5 was announced on August 13th, with an initial release to the public on August 15th in Taiwan, Thailand, and Singapore, followed by a US release on August 21st. That brought forward the initial bulk of sales into the Q3 2015 earnings call.

The Galaxy Note 5 sales must have had an effect on the numbers in that call. Samsung brought forward the Note 5 sales from Q4 to Q3, minimised the impact of the lower sales of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, and allowed the PR to focus on the rising profit and revenues from other departments. It now looks like Samsung are going to pull the same trick with the launch of the Galaxy S7.

Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (image: Samsung PR)

Recent reports have placed the announcement date of the Galaxy S7 happening much earlier than previous years. There's a huge rush of consumer electronics news that comes out of CES between January 6th to January 9th. Any announcement by Samsung in there would run the risk of being lost in a sheen of drones, VR gear, and the ubiquitous internet-connected fridge. Just after CES, once all the reporters have come home and had some sleep, is now looking like a strong option.

This also ties into the release dates that have been discussed for the Galaxy S7. Forbes' Gordon Kelly covers China Mobile's presentation of its upcoming release schedule which has the Galaxy S7 going on sale in February. That doesn't fit with a pre-MWC schedule, but it does fit with a post-CES schedule.

It also has a number of advantages for the corporate side of Samsung, notably that the sales figures would be brought forward from Q2 2016 into Q1 2016. Assuming the Galaxy S6 sales follow the same trend as in previous years, but from a lower starting point, Q1 could have revealed lower year-on-year sales of the Galaxy range. The perception of the Galaxy range 'failing' would make an MWC launch of the S7 harder to push through as 'innovation', instead it would be pitched as having to 'save Samsung', and that's not an easy story to sell.